'Jaipal betrayed Telangana cause'

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In typical Telugu movie style, the Telangana tangle now has an "antihero". Union urban development minister S. Jaipal Reddy and senior Rajya Sabha MP Keshav Rao have been accused of "sacrificing the cause for selfish gains". Congress MPs and MLAs from Telangana, who are being pressured to withdraw t

In typical Telugu movie style, the Telangana tangle now has an "antihero". Union urban development minister S. Jaipal Reddy and senior Rajya Sabha MP Keshav Rao have been accused of "sacrificing the cause for selfish gains". Congress MPs and MLAs from Telangana, who are being pressured to withdraw their resignations demanding formation of a new state carved out of 10 Andhra Pradesh districts, are furious with the duo. Reddy and Rao are the only two Congress MPs from Telangana who have not sent their resignations to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

They attribute Reddy and Rao's reluctance to not resign to their "secret ambitions". "Reddy and Rao think that the Congress high command will make one of them the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in the place of K. Rosaiah, as a sop for staying clear of the Telangana movement," a Congress MP from Telangana said.

"Both of them keep saying they support the cause, but what is there to show for it? They have not even resigned. Rao said he would resign, but he has only sent a representation.

They are our leaders and they have betrayed us," another Congress MP said. Reddy, on his part, said: "I have never spoken on the Telangana issue, either in public or in private."This statement has further discouraged the Telangana activists who had hoped that a Union minister with his kind of clout would throw his weight behind them.

A Congress MP pointed out that Union ministers from the other two regions of Andhra Pradesh including D. Purandeshwari, Panabalakshmi, Pallam Raju and Hari Pratap had publicly expressed opposition to the formation of Telangana, after Chidambaram had announced it.

"Why is it that only Jaipal Reddy finds it difficult to state his stand on Telangana, while his colleagues in the council of ministers don't?" he asked.

Telangana activists pointed out that Reddy had claimed credit for the announcement of home minister P. Chidambaram on December 9 that the process for the formation of Telangana would begin.

"That day, Reddy said this announcement was the result of nine years of his agitation for the formation of a new state. But when the home minister diluted the Centre's stand, Reddy said he had never been consulted and he didn't know anything about what is going on. If he doesn't lead the fight, who will?" a Telangana activist asked.

Sources said that Reddy had problems even visiting his constituency Hyderabad in public view, as people were unhappy over his lack of visible support to the Telangana cause. "He comes quietly and goes back without informing anyone that he has visited his constituency. He has no option but to keep a low profile," sources said.

Congress MPs, ministers and MLAs are unhappy that even the Andhra Pradesh Congress committee chief D. Srinivas, also from Telangana, has not fought with the high command for a separate state.

"Our leaders are not united, unlike those from other parts of Andhra Pradesh. So, though we have come so close to achieving our goal, we have not been able to get it," another MP said. So much is the resentment against Reddy that even his food menu for an annual media bash was accused of being biased against Telangana.

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